


Robert And Victoria At Keeper's Cottage

by theprincessed



Series: Village Talk [5]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Advice, Declarations Of Love, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 03:24:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6594655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincessed/pseuds/theprincessed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stung by Aaron’s rejection, Robert returns to Keeper’s where Victoria gives him some advice…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Robert And Victoria At Keeper's Cottage

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Here's some mopey pining Robert and very smart Vic. That’s it really. It’s hard when they haven’t had a heart to heart in so long. I guess this is a mini one whilst I try and get back into the swing of things with Robron? I really hope I haven't lost my touch lol.
> 
> Hope you enjoy x

Robert watches Aaron, Chas and Adam walk away from him, feeling like he's at a loose end. He'd psyched himself up to be strong for Aaron and whilst he wasn't entirely surprised at the gentle rebuff from Aaron because it had happened exactly the same before the plea hearing, it still stung to be left, helpless and worried with a bone-deep intensity.

With nothing else for it and not quite at the level of pity party for one at the pub to anxiously await Aaron's return, Robert turns and heads back home. He closes the door and listens for a moment, even though he knows Victoria is at work. The cottage is quiet. It springs him into action. He takes off his grey coat and hangs it carefully over the back of the armchair before he slumps down into the settee. He drums his fingers on the arm of his seat, thoughts stuck on Aaron, before he shakes himself mentally and picks up the TV remote. He's practically an expert on daytime programmes now.

\---

Still sat in the same place, Robert startles when the front door jiggles and opens, the outside world briefly chirping before it's shut out again. He checks his watch, realising that he hadn't been watching TV at all, but rather staring at the screen, unseeing, as Victoria comes bustling in. She goes to throw her tiny bag down on the settee, but her eyes widen when she sees him sitting there.

“God, Rob!” she gasps, “You scared me, hi. What're you doing here? Court hasn't finished already, has it?”

Just like that it comes back to him, Aaron pushing him away, however softly and however much he tells himself he understands. Where he had been looking up at Victoria as she came round the side of the settee, he looks down at his polished shoes and shakes his head. “I didn't go.”

“Oh. Right.” She hesitates when he offers no further explanation, her fingers twisting before she tentatively asks, “So why are you still dressed like that then?”

His gaze lifts sharply, thinking it's obvious. “In case he needs me.”

He thinks she's going to scoff, Chas probably would and a few others, but he sees Victoria's eyes immediately soften and he's reminded _oh yeah_ , she's not like everybody else. She's unique, she's his little sister.

He lets out an embarrassed huff of laughter and leans forward, arm up to scratch the back of his neck. “It's alright, I'm fine. You're right, I probably should get out of these clothes. This suit could wrinkle and it wasn't cheap y'know.”

He's forcing his usual bravado, desperate to paper over the cracks of his disappointment. He stands up with an air of brightness, but lets out a surprised sound as Victoria pushes him back into his seat.

“No, you stay there.” she orders, “I came home to make myself some lunch, get out of the pub, but it can wait.” She sits down next to him and puts her hand to his knee. “Rob, of course Aaron needs you.”

“Does he?” he snaps then sighs, irritated that he's been so level-headed lately and now he's so self-aware he can hear how selfish he sounds. “I just – I've been trying to so hard to be there for him and Vic, I want to be, I really do, but - ”

Victoria squeezes his arm. “Come on, tell me what actually happened this morning. I saw you getting ready before I left. I bet you looked right dapper.”

She nudges his shoulder with hers, peering into his face to encourage a smile. He resists for approximately one second before he glances at her and his lips crook the tiniest bit.

“Aaron didn't want me there.” he blurts out, “Said that he had to think straight today and with me there, he couldn't. Still think he needs me?”

Her mouth twists, like she thinks he's being unreasonably mopey and he's miserable that she's right. However, it's something of a relief that he can get away with it here, to not have to try so hard in being the one terrible secrets are confessed to. She doesn't let him off with much, except this now. “Do you want my advice?” she says into the ensuing silence and he looks at her, eyebrow arched expectantly. “You're a Sugden,” she grins, parroting his words back to him from months ago, to her when Adam had been a complete pillock. “Aaron can't read your mind. If you want him to let you in again - ”

“ - Of course. Vic, I've told him I still love him. What else can I do?” he interrupts.

But Victoria puts a finger up. “Don't tell, show. Show him that you mean it. He's got a lot goin' on right now, but if he could just see that you're serious about this, about him, then who knows.”

He mulls it over for quite some time, barely registering his sister leaving the room to go and make herself some food, suddenly too wrapped up in how to show the tidal wave of feeling threatening to burst out. Could he really put himself out there and trust that doing so won't make Aaron retreat even further away from him?

\---

At court the next day, the atmosphere is hushed and tense, but Robert is strangely calm and confident as he takes to the stand. He says his piece as planned by him and Aaron's barrister before he realises with startling clarity that this could make a big difference in earning back Aaron's trust. He knows he doesn't have to do this, not like this, but the feelings grow because _he wants to_. He's only meant to extol how decent Aaron is, how anyone would be lucky to be like him, but he takes a breath, a pause and a leap. In front of a courtroom full of strangers and Aaron's family, he softly proclaims his need to be with the man who deserves nothing but happiness in his life.

There's a ripple of commotion once he's said it and he swallows hard, wondering if it was too much and the wrong place, wrong time, but he knows who he needs to look at to find out. He stares up into the gallery and watches as Aaron's mouth twitches into the smallest, cautious smile, his eyes glossy with unshed tears. His heart swoops and climbs because Aaron heard, he saw and he _knows_.

And Robert knows that he owes his brilliant, beautiful, smart sister for pushing him to put that tiny spark of hope in Aaron's eyes. 

Thankfully, he's got time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, lovelies x
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [theprincessed](http://www.theprincessed.tumblr.com). Come chat to me. :)


End file.
